Remembrance from Joshua 4

Today I am commenting on the word, “Remember,” and on Joshua 4:1-8, which reads:

When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,  “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” 

So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down.

Israel Had A Problem Remembering:

One of Israel’s biggest problems was a bad memory: They were like the man who has three pairs of glasses: one for nearsightedness, one for farsightedness, and one to find the other two when he forgot where he put them.

Israel forgot what God did for them.

They forgot what life was like before God saved them.

They forgot who God is, and what He is like.

They forgot that God fought all of their battles for them and had given them all of their victories.

Every time they forgot they got into trouble, and then God, in His grace, had to rescue them.

God wanted Israel to remember His acts on their behalf, so he required them to establish a memorial.

He included all 12 tribes and rocks which came from the riverbed and which had a distinctive look, which was different than the native rocks on the riverbank.

He told them what to say when their children asked about it. This is just like the Passover, which is a meal of observance and remembrance. I like to linger at monuments and museums, to understand what they represent. This is exactly what God wanted the Children of Israel to do.

We Too, Need to Remember:

First, we need to study God’s Word to see His past record.

You know in a strange sort of way this is like deer hunting. Most people think sitting in a deer stand and harvesting a deer is how you hunt them but that's really not true. That's really just harvesting the deer.

You actually hunt the deer by scouting out where they have been and then placing your deer stand or your blind to overlook that place. You know where the deer will go because of the tracks of where they have been. And this is the same with God and why we need to study God's Word; we know where God will go and what He will do by where He’s gone and what He’s done.

We also need to walk with God daily to remember how He blessed us that day. In addition, we should fellowship with other believers and see how He works in their lives as well.

Finally, we need to make sure our children remember also. The church is only one generation from extinction. To prevent that tragedy, we need to be people who remember God’s works.

Remembrance:

This Sunday is Memorial Day, which gives us another dimension about the word remember. On Memorial Day, we need to remember all those who have died fighting for the cause of freedom.

One of the most touching memorials I ever remember attending was when I was the chaplain of the 441st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Battalion and we were deployed to Iraq.

Each year the EOD community observes a memorial ceremony to remember all of those EOD Techs that were killed in the line of duty during the previous year. As the name of each deceased hero is read the congregation replies with the refrain, “We remember!” It sent chills down my back.

Like the church, our nation is only one generation from extinction. We are not a perfect people, but we have worked hard to better implement the lofty goals that our forefathers codified in the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

We need to remember this Memorial Day that those who have died in the cause of freedom have died for a righteous cause and we need to dedicate ourselves to defending those same liberties with all the righteous means at hand.

This Memorial Day let us all say with gratitude to our God and to our fallen heroes, “We Remember!”

Every blessing, Dr. Otis Corbitt